Not only because I love the novelty of dining in a private kitchen, but also because The Wall Street Journal dubs it as Shanghai’s four hot tables, that this shoebox of a restaurant Chun (or Spring in English) immediately makes it to the top of my eating list in the city.
We arrive a bit early. Ms. Qu, the proprietress/cook/waitress/busboy/cashier of this 20-year old dining establishment welcomes us and seats us at a cramped corner table – one of the four hot tables in Shanghai, mind you. And while taking note of our food preferences (nothing too oily as per mom), she starts doing this to our chopsticks.
Why buy chopstick holders when you can use the wrappers? Gotta love the creativity.
“A couple of appetizers, a shrimp dish, a fish dish and soup are what I am going to serve you. Anything more than that will be too much and a waste of food,” she says matter-of-factly.
Seriously, Ms. Qu, do you SERIOUSLY know who you’re dealing with?
Duck leg in sweet brown sauce – everything, and I mean everything in Shanghai is about this sweet brown sauce. Honestly, it is nothing special.
Purée of broad beans with Chinese pickles – tastes a bit too funky for me
Gluten with peanut, mushroom and black fungus – the only dish I really like
Steamed shrimps – totally forgettable
Pompano fish - doused again in the holy trinity of soy sauce, sugar and oil
Chicken soup – with much oil and little chicken flavor
Honestly, I think the food in Chun is highly overrated.
But dining in such a cramped space, seeing potential customers peeking in and being turned away, and having to walk thru some small alley across the street to get to the ladies room, these make eating at Chun a unique Shanghai experience.
And really, who can resist that tweetum pose?
Ms. Qu, Dad, Mom, me
Do not ever underestimate our eating powers
Chun Restaurant 春餐廳: 124 Jinxian Road, near Maoming South Road, Shanghai, China. Tel: +8621-6256-0301
